Cute YouTube vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7kBTZAGhbs

But also an excellent example of why people should be required to pass a test and obtain their photographer's license before being allowed to own and operate a camera. I think I need a Gravol.

I think the camera operator was training to film Cloverfield.

But its great to see all three from different perspectives. Maybe I need to finally upgrade to iMovie 09 so I can use it's image stabilization feature.

(It's amazing how often this forum will spark contemplation an upgrade purchase as the result of just one image, video or program. I'm looking at you, mhoward. )


Edited for clarity.

The Briton in you should approve of the choice of Holst for the soundtrack. And I find the appropriateness of Holst's subtitle to be a bit amusing. MSL, bringer of war.

MSL, Bringer of War? Well, it does have a friggin' laser beam attached to it, of course.

Lyford: totally not my fault. I can't be held responsible if the team rocks by releasing so much data ;-)

From the JPL homepage today. Big rig, big chute:
Click to view attachment
Link to full image

Great the only color they gave it was the color of Mars. How is HIRISE going to be able to see that during EDL? They should have made it neon green with a giant happy face painted on it. THEN it would be easy to spot.

...Yeah! Great idea, Dan!

Why DON'T they make Mars chutes in contrasting colors? There's some opportunistic science to be had (like rate of dust deposition) aside from the coolness factor. It must have something to do with cost, performance or even mass considerations, I'd guess, though the only thing I can think of is added manufacturing expense.

I think the chute is erm mostly white ?

Yeah, but there's a lot of light-colored dusty terrain; not much contrast there. Dan is right: neon green or blinding blue or something else that would really contrast with the vast majority of the Martian landscape is the ticket.

Careful... these "neon glowing parachutes" are just a hop, skip and a jump away from putting adverts on the parachutes... how much would MacDonalds pay to have its "M" on MSL's parachute, to be imaged on Mars' surface by HiRISE after landing, as the first off-planet advert...

Hmmm... not sure if that would be a good thing or a bad thing...

Discuss!

White works

Stu,

2.3G$

...is McDonald's annual profits and MSL's likely cost.

Andy

Wasn't NASA considering putting advertising somewhere? I recall something being mentioned about that.

You may be thinking about Beagle 2. I don't know if it was being seriously considered.

BBC News Online story 27 Nov 1998 "Getting the message across - on Mars": The BBC 9o'clock news last night reported the advertising potential of Beagle 2, with Science Correspondent James Wilkinson suggesting the airbags which cushion the lander as it hits the surface could carry company logos.

I imagine that (besides tradition) the cost of qualifying a relatively untested neon-green fabric for the critical entry mission may also have something to do with it.

Steve M

Not the fabric so much (it's just normal nylon and polyester AFAIK) but the dye process. Dyeing nylon requires heat, and I suspect qualifying the process without a critical engineering reason to do so wasn't high on anyone's priority list.

Some more picture of the test of the worlds largest parachute.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/ai...ce/4320989.html

Video of the engineering model of the robotic arm at the end of this article:

Inside the Rover Factory

Like everything on MSL, it's big!

Yes : it's THAT big !!!! Pic taken today at the Paris Air Show at the CNES exhibit. Enjoy !
Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

Does anyone have any idea what that "tin can" with the brown and black spiral markings is atop the RTGs? I haven't seen it in previous images.

Steve M

It's not ontop of the RTG - it's mounted on one of the trusses that stands up at the back of the rover deck. It's the UHF antenna for relay to MODY/MEX/MRO

I noticed that too, thought it was a mistake or something.

Reminds me of the Mike Myers "All Things Scottish" shop skit from Saturday Night Live: "They come in three sizes: wee, not so wee, and friggin' HUGE!"

Will Curiosity carry batteries as well as the RTGs? I know that it will have a constant power supply, but will batteries be required to give it an extra boost of power for driving ops, etc?

Guess it's too late to put one of these on MSL..?

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/panas...order-20090421/

Shame...

Well - before the descoping of Mastcam's zoom..... it DID

Here's the miniscule, almost infinitesimal heat shield.

Where? I don't see it.

Actually, you might say that in future MRO pics if it doesn't discolor much during reentry & lands upside down.

(We already talked about parachute colors, so I'll let this one slide! )

Delay related posts moved to MSL reasons for delay thread.

Large Heat Shield for Mars Science Laboratory
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/msl-20090710.html
Heat shield with a diameter of 4.5 meters is really big.

I read somewhere there was concern over the heatshield and infact a new one might have to be built. Does anyone know if that was the case ?
Logically proberbly not if the heatshield is now ready.

That's no heatshield, it's a small moon!

A "spaceflightnow.com", Craig Covault's article here: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0908/05msl/
Including quite some nice and new pictures.

MSL activity in JPL clean room yesterday during the "Summer of Innovation" event...

Click to view attachment

I was - uhm Curious about the size and weight of MSL as compared to the Viking Landers. According to Wiki, MSL is 10 feet long (3.0m) and weighs about a ton (900kg).

According to the NSSDC Catalog, Viking's lander feet formed a 7.25 ft (2.21m) triangle when viewed from above, and weighed 1261lbs (572kg).

Very cute new "family portrait" here...

http://www.lacanadaonline.com/news/tn-pas-...0,7369198.story

That is an excellent photo! Does anyone know where the full resolution pics are? I'd like to make that rover family portrait my desktop background.

James (and all others), maybe you'll like these new hi-res pictures from Mars Yard:
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA15279
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA15280
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA15278
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA15277

Great pics -- 15279 with the two basketball players gives you a good sense of how big MSL is!

MSL team testing rover mobility across sand dunes in the Mojave Desert with weight simulator Scarecrow.
... with MER simulator as well. For comparison maybe, or training for Cape Tribulation?



more pictures here

We know exactly how the MER chassis copes with real Mars. It's being used as calibration - a reality check - to help us figure out exactly how well the MSL chassis will handle Mars as well.

OK, thanks for clarification.
... and the result is? ... how well the MSL chassis will handle Mars?

Just watching all the "pre-game" shows and learned that the backshell has 75kg of tungsten ballast embedded on the forward edge to help control its attitude in atmosphere entry. I wonder if large follow-up missions of landers could be designed so that the robot stowage configuration achieves this purpose. Seems a shame to deliver an extra 75kg to mars that is dumb ballast.

5.7 hours and counting!

The problem then is you'd have to safely land all the embedded rover/landers, have comms setup for them, and teams to run the submissions, all costing many many $$$. The throw away mass is what it is, it's a needed design feature.

Ballast is typically very dense material due to the mass and volume constraints. In some cases on aircraft, depleted uranium is used. Designing a payload into ballast is just not practical from either budget or schedule.

Any reason it was tungsten specifically? Wouldn't lead work just as well (and be a bit cheaper)?

To comply with the Planetary Protection Protocol they used fairly nonreactive tungsten. Lead is deadly poisonous.

Lead is too soft. Tungsten (or possibly a copper-tungsten alloy which is easier to machine) is much harder. Also, tungsten is denser, allowing volume savings.

http://www.e-tungsten.com/top_10_tungsten_reasons.html

I'm unaware of any planetary protection restrictions against lead or generally toxic materials. Consider the toxicity of Pu238...